The only thing that stopped me from intercepting Lissa and Christian when they met up early in her lobby the next day was that Hans summoned me to work even earlier. He put me on paperwork duty—in the vaults, ironically enough—leaving me to file and stew over Lissa and Christian as I watched them through my bond. I took it as a sign of my multitasking skills that I was able to alphabetize and spy at the same time.
Yet my observations were interrupted when a voice said, “Didn’t expect to find you here again.”
I blinked out of Lissa’s head and looked up from my paperwork. Mikhail stood before me. In light of the complications that had ensued with the Victor incident, I’d nearly forgotten Mikhail’s involvement in our “escape.” I set the files down and gave him a small smile.
“Yeah, weird how fate works, huh? They actually want me here now.”
“Indeed. You’re in a fair amount of trouble, I hear.”
My smile turned into a grimace. “Tell me about it.” I glanced around, even though I knew we were alone. “You didn’t get in any trouble, did you?”
He shook his head. “No one knows what I did.”
“Good.” At least one person had escaped this debacle unscathed. My guilt couldn’t have handled him getting caught too.
Mikhail knelt so that he was eye level with me, resting his arms on the table I sat at. “Were you successful? Was it worth it?”
“That’s a hard question to answer.”
He arched an eyebrow.
“There were some . . . not so successful things that happened. But we did find out what we wanted to know—or, well, we think we did.”
His breath caught. “How to restore a Strigoi?”
“I think so. If our informant was telling the truth, then yeah. Except, even if he was . . . well, it’s not that easy to do. It’s nearly impossible, really.”
“What is it?”
I hesitated. Mikhail had helped us, but he wasn’t in my circle of confidants. Yet even now, I saw that haunted look in his eyes, the one I’d seen before. The pain of losing his beloved still tormented him. It likely always would. Would I be doing more harm than good by telling him what I’d learned? Would this fleeting hope only hurt him more?
I finally decided to tell him. Even if he told others—and I didn’t think he would—most would laugh it off anyway. There would be no damage there. The real trouble would come if he told anyone about Victor and Robert—but I didn’t actually have to mention their involvement to him. Unlike Christian, it had apparently not occurred to Mikhail that the prison break so big in Moroi news had been pulled off by the teens he helped smuggle out. Mikhail probably couldn’t spare a thought for anything that didn’t involve saving his Sonya.
“It takes a spirit user,” I explained. “One with a spirit-charmed stake, and then he . . . or she . . . has to stake the Strigoi.”
“Spirit . . .” That element was still foreign to most Moroi and dhampirs—but not to him. “Like Sonya. I know spirit’s supposed to make them more alluring . . . but I swear, she never needed it. She was beautiful on her own.” As always, Mikhail’s face took on that same sad look it did whenever Ms. Karp was mentioned. I’d never really seen him truly happy since meeting him and thought he’d be pretty good-looking if he ever genuinely smiled. He suddenly seemed embarrassed at his romantic lapse and returned to business. “What spirit user could do a staking?”
“None,” I said flatly. “Lissa Dragomir and Adrian Ivashkov are the only two spirit users I even know—well, aside from Avery Lazar.” I was leaving Oksana and Robert out of this. “Neither of them has the skill to do it—you know that as well as I do. And Adrian has no interest in it anyway.”
Mikhail was sharp, picking up on what I didn’t say. “But Lissa does?”
“Yes,” I admitted. “But it would take her years to learn to do it. If not longer. And she’s the last of her line. She can’t be risked like that.”
The truth of my words hit him, and I couldn’t help but share his pain and disappointment. Like me, he’d put a lot of faith into this last-ditch effort to be reunited with his lost love. I had just affirmed that it was possible . . . yet impossible. I think it would have been easier on both of us to learn it had all been a hoax.
He sighed and stood up. “Well . . . I appreciate you going after this. Sorry your punishment is for nothing.”
I shrugged. “It’s okay. It was worth it.”
“I hope . . .” His face turned hesitant. “I hope it ends soon and doesn’t affect anything.”
“Affect what?” I asked sharply, catching the edge in his voice.
“Just . . . well, guardians who disobey orders sometimes face long punishments.”
“Oh. This.” He was referring to my constant fear of being stuck with a desk job. I tried to play flippant and not to show how much that possibility scared me. “I’m sure Hans was bluffing. I mean, would he really make me do this forever just because I ran away and—”
I stopped, my mouth hanging open when a knowing glint flashed in Mikhail’s eyes. I’d heard long ago how he’d tried to track down Ms. Karp, but the logistics had never really hit me until now. No one would have condoned his search. He would have had to leave on his own, breaking protocol, and come skulking back when he finally gave up on locating her. He would have been in just as much trouble as me for going MIA.
“Is that . . .” I swallowed. “Is that why you . . . why you work down here in the vaults now?”
Mikhail didn’t answer my question. Instead, he glanced down with a small smile and pointed at my stacks of paper. “F comes before L,” he said before turning and leaving.
“Damn,” I muttered, looking down. He was right. Apparently I couldn’t alphabetize so well while watching Lissa. Still, once I was alone, that didn’t stop me from tuning back into her mind. I wanted to know what she was doing . . . and I didn’t want to think about how what I’d done would probably be considered worse than Mikhail’s deeds in the eyes of the guardians. Or that a similar—or worse—punishment might be in store for me.
Lissa and Christian were at a hotel near Lehigh’s campus. The middle of the vampiric day meant evening for the human university. Lissa’s tour wouldn’t start until their morning the next day, which meant she had to bide her time at the hotel now and try to adjust to a human schedule.
Lissa’s “new” guardians, Serena and Grant, were with her, along with three extras that the queen had sent as well. Tatiana had allowed Christian to come along and hadn’t been nearly as opposed as Lissa had feared—which again made me question if the queen really was as awful as I’d always believed. Priscilla Voda, a close advisor of the queen that both Lissa and I liked, was also accompanying Lissa as she looked around the school. Two of the additional guardians stayed with Priscilla; the third stayed with Christian. They ate dinner as a group and then retired to their rooms. Serena was actually staying with Lissa in hers while Grant stood guard outside the door. Watching all this triggered a pang in me. Pair guarding—it was what I’d been trained for. What I’d been expecting my whole life to do for Lissa.
Serena was a picture-perfect example of guardian aloofness, being there but not there as Lissa hung up some of her clothes. A knock at the door immediately shot Serena into action. Her stake was in hand, and she strode to the door, looking out through its peephole. I couldn’t help but admire her reaction time, though part of me would never believe anyone could guard Lissa as well as I could. “Get back,” Serena said to Lissa.
A moment later, the tension in Serena faded a tiny bit, and she opened the door. Grant stood there with Christian beside him.
“He’s here to see you,” Grant said, like it wasn’t obvious.
Lissa nodded. “Um, yeah. Come on in.”
Christian stepped inside when Grant backed away. Christian gave Lissa a meaningful look as he did, making a small head nod toward Serena.
“Hey, um, would you mind giving us some privacy?” As soon as the words were out of Lissa’s mouth, she tur
ned bright pink. “I mean . . . we just . . . we just need to talk about some things, that’s all.”
Serena kept her face almost neutral, but it was clear she thought they were going to do more than talk. Average teen dating wasn’t usually hot gossip in the Moroi world, but Lissa, with her notoriety, attracted a bit more attention with her romantic affairs. Serena would have known Christian and Lissa had gone out and broken up. For all she knew, they were back together now. Lissa inviting him on this trip certainly suggested it.
Serena glanced around warily. The balance of protection and privacy was always difficult with Moroi and guardians, and hotel rooms like this made it even harder. If they were on a vampiric schedule, with everyone sleeping during daylight hours, I didn’t doubt Serena would have stepped into the hall with Grant. But it was dark outside, and even a fifth-floor window could be a Strigoi liability. Serena wasn’t keen on leaving her new charge alone.
Lissa’s hotel suite had an expansive living room and work area, with an adjacent bedroom accessible through frosted-glass French doors. Serena nodded toward them. “How about I just go in there?” A smart idea. Provided privacy but kept her close by. Then, Serena realized the implications, and she blushed. “I mean . . . unless you guys want to go in there and I’ll—”
“No,” exclaimed Lissa, growing more and more embarrassed. “This is fine. We’ll stay in here. We’re just talking.”
I wasn’t sure whose benefit that was for, Serena’s or Christian’s. Serena nodded and disappeared into the bedroom with a book, which reminded me eerily of Dimitri. She shut the door. Lissa wasn’t sure how well noise traveled, so she turned the TV on.
“God, that was miserable,” she groaned.
Christian seemed totally at ease as he leaned against the wall. He wasn’t the formal type by any means, but he’d put on dress clothes for dinner earlier and still wore them. They looked good on him, no matter how much he always complained. “Why?”
“Because she thinks we’re—she thinks we’re—well, you know.”
“So? What’s the big deal?”
Lissa rolled her eyes. “You’re a guy. Of course it doesn’t matter to you.”
“Hey, it’s not like we haven’t. Besides, better for her to think that than to know the truth.”
The reference to their past sex life inspired a mix of emotions—embarrassment, anger, and longing—but she refused to let that show. “Fine. Let’s just get this over with. We’ve got a big day, and our sleep’s going to be all screwy as it is. Where do we start? Do you want me to get the stake?”
“No need yet. We should just practice some basic defensive moves.” He straightened up and moved toward the center of the room, dragging a table out of the way.
I swear, if not for the context, watching the two of them attempt combat training on their own would have been hilarious.
“Okay,” he said. “So you already know how to punch.”
“What? I do not!”
He frowned. “You knocked out Reed Lazar. Rose mentioned it, like, a hundred times. I’ve never heard her so proud about something.”
“I punched one person once in my life,” she pointed out. “And Rose was coaching me. I don’t know if I could do it again.”
Christian nodded, looking disappointed—not in her skills but because he had an impatient nature and wanted to jump right into the really hard-core fighting stuff. Nonetheless, he proved a surprisingly patient teacher as he went over the fine art of punching and hitting. A lot of his moves were actually things he’d picked up from me.
He’d been a decent student. Was he at guardian levels? No. Not by a long shot. And Lissa? She was smart and competent, but she wasn’t wired for combat, no matter how badly she wanted to help with this. Punching Reed Lazar had been a beautiful thing, but it didn’t appear to be anything that would ever become natural for her. Fortunately, Christian started with simple dodging and watching one’s opponent. Lissa was just a beginner at it but showed a lot of promise. Christian seemed to chalk it up to his instructive skills, but I’d always thought spirit users had a kind of preternatural instinct about what others might do next. I doubted it would work on Strigoi, though.
After a little of that, Christian finally returned to offense, and that’s when things went bad.
Lissa’s gentle, healing nature didn’t mesh with that, and she refused to really strike out with her full force, for fear of hurting him. When he realized what was happening, his snarky temper started to rise.
“Come on! Don’t hold back.”
“I’m not,” she protested, delivering a punch to his chest that didn’t come close to budging him.
He raked a hand irritably through his hair. “You are too! I’ve seen you knock on a door harder than you’re hitting me.”
“That’s a ridiculous metaphor.”
“And,” he added, “you aren’t aiming for my face.”
“I don’t want to leave a mark!”
“Well, at the rate we’re going, there’s no danger of that,” he muttered. “Besides, you can heal it away.”
I was amused at their bickering but didn’t like his casual encouragement of spirit use. I still hadn’t shaken my guilt over the long-term damage that the prison break could have caused.
Reaching forward, Christian grabbed her by the wrist and jerked her toward him. He balled her fingers with his other hand and then slowly demonstrated how to swing a punch upward by pulling her fist toward his face. He was more interested in showing the technique and motion, so it only brushed against him.
“See? Arc upward. Make the impact right there. Don’t worry about hurting me.”
“It’s not that simple. . . .”
Her protest died off, and suddenly, they both seemed to notice the situation they were in. There was barely any space between them, and his fingers were still wrapped around her wrist. They felt warm against Lissa’s skin and were sending electricity through the rest of her body. The air between them seemed thick and heavy, like it might just wrap them up and pull them together. From the widening of Christian’s eyes and sudden intake of breath, I was willing to bet he was having a similar reaction at being so close to her body.
Coming to himself, he abruptly released her hand and stepped back. “Well,” he said roughly, though still clearly unnerved by the proximity, “I guess you aren’t really serious about helping Rose.”
That did it. Sexual tension notwithstanding, anger kindled up in Lissa at the comment. She balled her fist and totally caught Christian off guard when she swung out and socked him in the face. It didn’t have the grace of her Reed punch, but it took Christian hard. Unfortunately, she lost her balance in the maneuver and stumbled forward into him. The two of them went down together, hitting the floor and knocking over a small table and lamp nearby. The lamp caught the table’s corner and broke.
Meanwhile, Lissa had landed on Christian. His arms instinctively went out around her, and if the space between them before had been small, it was nonexistent now. They stared into each other’s eyes, and Lissa’s heart was pounding fiercely in her chest. That tantalizing electric feeling crackled around them again, and all the world for her seemed to focus on his lips. Both she and I wondered later if they might have kissed, but just then, Serena came bursting out of the bedroom.
She was on guardian high alert, body tense and ready to face an army of Strigoi with her stake in hand. She came screeching to a halt when she saw the scene before her: what appeared to be a romantic interlude. Admittedly, it was an odd one, what with the broken lamp and swelling red mark on Christian’s face. It was pretty awkward for everyone, and Serena’s attack mode faded to one of confusion.
“Oh,” she said uncertainly. “Sorry.”
Embarrassment flooded Lissa, as well as self-resentment at being affected so much by Christian. She was furious at him, after all. Hastily, she pulled away and sat up, and in her flustered state, she felt the need to make it clear that there was nothing romantic whatsoever going on.
Serena visibly relaxed, and while she’d mastered that blank face all guardians excelled at, it was clear she was amused. “Well,” she said, “it doesn’t look like you’re doing a very good job.”
Christian turned indignant as he stroked his injured cheek. “Hey! We are too. I taught her this.”
Serena still thought it was all funny, but a serious, considering glint was starting to form in her eyes. “That seems like it was more lucky than anything else.” She hesitated, like she was on the verge of a big decision. At last she said, “Look, if you guys are serious about this, then you need to learn to do it the right way. I’ll show you how.”
No. Way.
I was seriously on the verge of escaping the Court and hitchhiking to Lehigh to really show them how to throw a punch—with Serena as my example—when something jolted me away from Lissa and back into my own reality. Hans.
I had a sarcastic greeting on my lips, but he didn’t give me a chance. “Forget the filing and follow me. You’ve been summoned.”
“I—what?” Highly unexpected. “Summoned where?”
His face was grim. “To see the queen.”
FOURTEEN
THE LAST TIME TATIANA HAD wanted to yell at me, she’d simply taken me to one of her private sitting rooms. It had made for a weird atmosphere, like we were at teatime—except people didn’t usually scream at other people during teatime. I had no reason to believe this would be any different . . . until I noticed my escort was leading me to the main business buildings of the Court, the places where all royal governing was conducted. Shit. This was more serious than I’d thought.
And indeed, when I was finally ushered into the room where Tatiana waited . . . well, I nearly came to a standstill and couldn’t enter. Only a slight touch on my back from one of the guardians with me kept me moving forward. The place was packed.
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